Southampton have signed midfielder, Shea Charles from Manchester City for an undisclosed transfer fee.
Charles’ move comes just over a month since he made his senior debut for City in a 1-0 Premier League defeat at Brentford, having previously been an unused substitute in the first leg of Man City’s Round of 16 tie away at RB Leipzig en-route to their maiden Champions League title.
This move also sees Charles reunite with Sam Edozie, Romeo Lavia and Juan Larios of whom he played with during City’s Premier League 2 triumph in 2021-22 season, although he went on to captain City to a third successive title in that competition last season.
Speaking about his decision to leave Man City after signing a four-year contract at Southampton until June 2027 under new manager – Russell Martin, Charles said: “I feel like the way the manager’s going to play will really suit me, and obviously some of the players that I know (from City) have done very well here last season in the Premier League, so there’s no reason why I can’t come in and do similar things.
The 19 year-old Northern Ireland international added that Martin is planning to adopt his preferred “possession-based football” this season
Charles also eagerly set a huge target for this season as he continued: “I feel like the main thing is promotion for this club, because we belong in the Premier League. I can’t wait to start pre-season and get into the Championship games.”
Martin meanwhile described Charles as “a very talented, intelligent and mature young player with great potential to develop his game with us.”
Paying tribute to City for their youth academy’s prolific quality in producing players like Charles, Martin added: “He has been well schooled at Manchester City, coming through an elite Academy all the way to the first team. We’ve watched him closely and we’re confident he’s got the right attributes to help us in the way we’re going to play.”
Charles could make his Southampton debut away to Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough in this season’s Championship opener live on Sky Sports, in a 8pm BST kick-off on Friday 4 August.
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